


Bets and Breakfast

by on_the_wing



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Animals, Animal AU, Bets & Wagers, Fluff, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-28 01:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10061738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/on_the_wing/pseuds/on_the_wing
Summary: Otabek is a literal bear. Yuri is a literal tiger, sort of. They're both hungry.A tiny birthday fic for TheLoyalMouse. <3 <3 <3





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheLoyalMouse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLoyalMouse/gifts).



The sun hurled its blazing white lance through the mouth of the cave, straight into the brown bear’s eye. He let out a groan, and, defeated, conceded that it was finally time to get up and face the outside world. A thin sheet of snow had tumbled into the cave entrance and lay yet unmelted, and the wind from the mountainside nipped at his nose, but he was hungry from his long winter sleep.  
  
The bear hauled himself up and lumbered toward the cave entrance, but blinked in surprise. A sinuous shadow uncurled itself and spilled down into the cave. Into _his_ cave! The bear roared and reared up on his hind legs, or at least tried to. His fluffy cranium ricocheted off the low ceiling, and he dropped back down with a huff.  
  
“Are you a dragon?” the intruder asked, slinking into a patch of sunlight and sprawling casually on the floor. His voice was small and thin and snaky, much like his physical self. He wasn’t a snake, though. He had four legs (currently stretched out to seemingly impossible lengths and at seemingly impossible angles) and was swathed in bands of saffron and amber fur, paling to white at the belly. His ears were triangular instead of round, and his pale green almond-shaped eyes bored into the bear. “You live in a cave, and you roar. You don’t have any treasure though. Maybe you’re just bad at being a dragon.”  
  
“I’m not a dragon,” said the bear, “but I _am_ very hungry.” He took a step toward the intruder.  
  
The creature shot up and streaked out to the doorway. He paused, seeing the bear was not giving chase, and curled his tail around his forelegs, licking one delicate white paw. “I’m not afraid of you. I could eat you up in one gulp.”  
  
“I’m sure you could,” the bear replied politely. He ambled toward the entrance, because all this talk of food was making his stomach cramp up. His new acquaintance shot away down the mountainside and halfway up a tree, then hung off a tiny branch, trying to look nonchalant. The bear pretended not to notice, moving along the slope snuffling for new green shoots and last year’s berries.  
  
“Are you eating GRASS? Are you a horse?”  
  
_You don’t get out much, do you?_   thought the bear. “No, I’m a—”  
  
“No, I want to guess! I bet I can guess.”  
  
The bear stopped and looked at him. “What will you bet?”  
  
The creature slid down the tree and swayed toward him through the grass. “I’ll bet…a mouse.”  
  
“What good would a mouse do me? I’d need a dozen to make a decent snack. Besides, they’re too fast for me to catch, if you win the bet.”  
  
“I’ll definitely win the bet, so all right. What would you like?”  
  
“Maybe a rabbit. Can you catch a rabbit?”  
  
“Of course!” The creature paused and blinked at him. “What’s a rabbit?”  
  
The bear heaved a quiet sigh. “Never mind. Do you know of any nut hordes? Or frozen carcasses?”  
  
“Oh! Oh! I know! I know!”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“My servants! We’re staying in the cabin and they keep nut hordes and frozen carcasses and canned meat and all kinds of other things!”  
  
“Your servants? You mean the shell monkeys?”  
  
“The what?”  
  
“The tall monkeys with no fur. They make themselves shells and coverings out of…I don’t know what.”  
  
“Oh! Yes, that’s them. I just call them my servants, but I guess you wouldn’t call them that, because they aren’t _your_ servants. At least they shouldn’t be. They’re supposed to be looking after me but they run off on their own so often!”  
  
“Do you need looking after?” asked the bear.  
  
“Of course not!” hissed the creature. “I’m just their superior and they understand that, so naturally they want to give me food and groom me and sleep close to me. They’re really very intelligent if you know how to talk to them.”  
  
“I see.” The bear chewed a mouthful of young horsetail, savoring the fresh green flavor. “And what are you, if I may ask?”  
  
“I’m the ice tiger of Russia,” the golden stranger announced, curling around the bear’s legs.  
  
“I’ve never heard of ice tigers. Is that a kind of Siberian tiger?”  
  
“I’m the only one.”  
  
“You’re a little small for a tiger,” observed the bear. “But you have the unforgettable eyes of a soldier.”  
  
“Yes, I know I should just eat them, but they’re so much fun to bat around! I mean,” he drew himself up and thrust a hind foot up into the air, “chasing them is good training for my reflexes.”  
  
_He’s very limber,_ the bear thought. _What would I look like if I tried to do that?_   “So, are you going to guess what I am or not?”  
  
“We haven’t decided on the terms of the bet yet! All right. If I can guess in three tries, you have to let me ride on your back. And not try to eat me.”  
  
The bear blinked. “…all right.”  
  
“And if I lose—which I won’t—I’ll get some bags of nuts and fruit and things and push them out to you through my door.”  
  
“Your door?”  
  
“I haven’t figured out how to open the main door yet, but there’s a flap that’s my size that they put in to let me go in and out. I can always open it.”  
  
“Okay.”  
  
“All right, so, my first guess is…”  
  
“Your first guess was dragon. Your second was horse. You only have one guess left.”  
  
“What?!” the tiger spat. “Not fair!”  
  
“But you already guessed those things, and they were wrong. It wouldn’t be fair to let you start with free guesses, would it?”  
  
“I…”  
  
“Besides, you don’t really need three _more_ guesses, do you? You must be smarter than that.”  
  
“Of course I am!” the tiger preened.  
  
“Well then.”  
  
“All right. I’ll guess it in one more guess. But I’m getting hungry too. I want to go home and eat first. Come on.”  
  
The tiger set off at a trot, and the bear ambled slowly after him, pulling up green shoots along the way. He didn’t quite believe the tiger’s stories, but he was interested to see if this door flap at least was real. He’d seen the cabin but never inspected it at close range, since the shell monkeys were an unpredictable bunch and he preferred to keep a respectful distance from them and their things.  
  
As they approached the cabin through the thick underbrush, the bear heard a simian voice calling out. “Yuri! Yuri, where are you? Yuri, breakfast!”  
  
“Come on! Yakov will probably feed you too once he sees that you’re my friend.” The tiger streaked toward the cabin and the bear reluctantly followed.  
  
“I don’t know about this…” he grumbled quietly.  
  
“Yuri, there you are! Stupid cat.” The old shell monkey crouched down to stroke the tiger with his front paw. As the bear’s head and shoulders emerged from the bushes, the monkey startled, rearing up on his hind legs. “BEAR!” he shouted, pointing.  
  
_Dammit,_ thought the bear as he turned and galloped back into the woods, _now I’ve lost the bet._ But was that really so bad?    


End file.
